Friday, 29th March 2024 09:16
Home / Uncategorized / APPT Macau: Day 2, levels 11, 12, 13 & 14 updates (1,500-3,000, 300 ante)

7.55pm: Play finishes
That’s it. Seven levels are done today and we’re left with 46 players, a big drop from the 160 who started. They’ll come back tomorrow and we need to lose five more before the money kicks in. A full wrap will be with you shortly, as will all the chip counts on the chip count page.

But we can safely say our chip leader is TJ Vorapanich on 472,900, followed by Kai Paulsen, Brendon Rubie and Andriyan Lebedev. — SY

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TJ Vorapanich

7.45pm: Five more hands
That’s all we have left to go tonight. We are down to 46 players. — SY

7.40pm: Now Rubie drop some
After regaining the lead when TJ Vorapanich lost the hand below, Brendon Rubie has also slipped up, losing a big pot when his pocket jacks failed to stand up against Brian Green’s A-K. Rubie pegged back to 310,000, while Green climbs to 260,000. — SY

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Brian Green celebrates

7.30pm: Leader slips
TJ Vorapanich slips back to 355,000 after losing a with sixes against the kings of Chong Man Ip from Macau. That leaves Brendon Rubie as the leader once more, sitting on around 400,000. — SY

7.25pm: Slowdown
As the bubble approaches – we’re at 49 players – the play has slowed down considerably. We still have nine to lose. — SY

7.15pm: Warning for Chong
Keith ‘The Camel’ Hawkins moved all in for his last 50,000 and John Chong from Hong Kong was chewing over his options. He looked like he may fold, and then flashed Hawkins one of his cards – the A♣ . Marcel Luske said he should not be allowed to do that, as Chong then showed it to the rest of the table as well.

Chong eventually mucked, at which point tournament boss Danny McDonagh warned him he would get a penalty if he did it again. “There is to be no showing of any hand while there is still action,” he said. Chong apologised, probably unaware he had broken the rules. — SY

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Keith Hawkins

7pm: We’re sniffing the cash
The players are back in their seats for level 14. Only 51 remain, which means we are getting might close to the bubble. Just 40 get paid here, so 11 of these are going to leave empty-handed. Play will end either when we burst the bubble, or when we reach the end of this one-hour level, whichever comes first. — SY

6.45pm: Break time
The tournament is now on a ten-minute break before returning for the last level of play.

Blinds on recommencement will be 1,500-3,000 with a 500-ante.

6.42pm: Vorapanich to chip lead, Steicke eliminated
On a board of 4♥ K♠ 6♠ 5♣ with a pot of around 150,000 brewing, TJ Vorapanich fired out a bet of 55,000 into David Steicke.

Steicke sat in the tank deliberating a decision for over three minutes before Vorapancih called time on the Hong Kong resident.

With only 67,000 in his stack and just ten seconds remaining in his allotted one minute, Steicke moved all in with Vorapanich instantly calling.

Steicke: Q♣ Q♥
Vorapanich: K♣ K♥

The river landed the meaningless 4♦ to send Steicke to the rail as Vorapanich climbs to over 446,000 in chips. — TD

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TJ Vorapanich rakes in the loot

6.15pm: Rubie extends lead
Brendon Rubie is up to 445,000 after winning two more sizable pots. First he had A♣ J♥ against an all-in player’s A♦ Kâ™  and spiked a jack on the 7♣ 4♣ 6♥ J♣ Qâ™  board. Soon after he found pocket kings and got a short-stack to move all-in with pocket eights – a king on the flop making short work of that one. — SY

Here are the top of the pops at the moment:
Brendon Rubie, 445,000
Kai Paulsen, 340,000
Mikhail Mazunin, 280,000

6.04pm: Powell falls
On a flop of 7♠ 8♦ 2♦ Julian Powell found himself all in against Kai Paulsen.

Powell: A♠ A♥
Paulsen: 7♦ 7♥

The turn landed the 5♦ to leave Powell drawing to just one out, and after the river fell the Kâ™  , the Australian hit the rail as Paulsen soared to 349,000 in chips. — TD

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Kai Paulsen

Luske doubles
Marcel Luske found himself all in holding K♣ Kâ™  against an opponent’s 4♣ 4â™  .

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Marcel Luske is pleased

The board ran out 2♥ 10♣ Q♣ 6♥ Qâ™  to see Luske double through to over 110,000 in chips. — TD

5.45pm: Level up!
The blinds have just been raised.

We are now playing 1,200-2,400 with a 300-ante.

5.40pm: Huge pot sends Rubie to runaway lead
Brendon Rubie takes a massive pot to eliminate Jun Lui, soaring to 340,000 and the outright chip lead. We picked up the action with the board showing 2♦ K♦ 9♣ 3♦ 10♥ and with 120,000 in the pot already.

Rubie had checked, before Lui spent an age to decide his move. The clock was called, and that sparked the man from China into life instantly. “All in,” he said. It was around 100,000 more to Rubie, who slumped back in his chair before sitting upright again to count his own stack and weigh up his options.

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Brendon Rubie, seated right, ponders the all-in from Jun Lui, standing left

He took several minutes before trying to tease some information out of Lui. “You have a king?” he asked. “No English, no English,” laughed Lui. Rubie thought some more – then calmly made the call – and with those straight and flush possibilities on the board it was a great one:

Lui: 4♥ 4♣
Rubie: Q♦ Q♠

With that, Lui sloped off, and Rubie had a mountain of chips to stack. A call worthy of the chip lead, to be honest. — SY

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Brendon Rubie collects the huge pot

5.30pm: Paulsen going well
Kai Paulsen is over 200,000 and joing those vying for the chip lead. He just busted with pocket aces against kings. — SY

5.20pm: Swannack runs unsuccessful triple barrel bluff
With the action folding round to PokerStars online qualifier Cole Swannack on the button, he bumped the action up to 4,600 with Jeppe Drivsholm making the call from the big blind.

Drivsholm check-called a 6,200, 14,000 and 26,000-chip bets on each street after the board was spread 2♦ A♣ Q♥ 5♦ 2♥ .

Swannack tabled his 8♥ 6â™  for a triple barrel bluff to slip to 110,000 as Drivsholm tabled his Q♣ 6♣ to rake in the pot and move to 199,000 in chips. — TD

5.15pm: That’s gotta hurt
Wooka Kim, the Japanese player, has been grinding today to keep herself afloat – but just busted in the most horrible way. She had Aâ™  Q♦ and was all in and in great shape against Domitrios Meryzanis’ Kâ™  10â™  when the flop came Qâ™  Q♣ 6h]. The trips put her a mile ahead, but the K♦ turn brought an “oooh” from the table…. and the river was K♥ bringing even louder “oohs” and the bigger full house to the man from Greece. — SY

5.05pm: Lim eliminated by Ngu
PokerStars online qualifier Jong-Hyun Lim found herself all in and called by Jessica Ngu.

Lim: A♦ 10♦
Ngu: 6♥ 6♣

The flop of Q♠ 6♦ 3♥ put Ngu squarely in the lead and left Lim drawing to backdoor straight and flush draws.

Unfortunately the 3♦ on the turn would be enough to put Lim on the rail, and after the meaningless K♦ landed on the river, Ngu raked in the pot to soar to just under 70,000 in chips. — TD

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Jessica Ngu, standing left, and Jong-Hyun Lim, standing right, watch the board play out

4.45pm: New chip leader emerges
Mikhail Mazunin, a PokerStars qualifier from Russia, has emerged as the new chip leader with 212,000, ahead of day 1A chip leader Alex Chieng on 186,000 and day 1C leader Darren Judges on 180,000.

As mentioned earlier, Team PokerStars Pro Marcel Luske is also now in the hunt, up to over 75,000 after doubling up with aces. We have 79 of our 160 day two starters remaining, and the all-ins and calls continue at an alarming rate– SY

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Mikail Mazunin

4.35pm: Level over
That was level 11, now for level 12, but not until there’s been a ten-minute break. Blinds will be 1,000-2,000 with a 200 running ante. — SY

4.30pm: Chau KO’D by Powell
With the action folding round to Julian Powell on the button, he tossed in four yellow 5,000-denomination chips to effectively put both the blinds all in.

Chris Chau in the small blind made the call for his last 14,000 in chips as the big blind passed.

Powell: Q♣ J♦
Chau: 7♥ 7♣

The final board ran out Jâ™  6â™  Qâ™  2♦ 10â™  to see Chau hit the rail as the Australian climbed to over 75,000 in chips. — TD

4.10pm: Luske back in the game
With Raymond Wu’s elimination – see post below – Marcel Luske was left as the only Team PokerStars Pro remaining in he field. And the Dutchman, who has been grinding all day, just found a perfect spot to double up to 75,000.

He got it in with A♦ Aâ™  and was up against A♥ K♥ . No unnecessary dramas on the board, and Luske is now looking menacing. — SY

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Marcel Luske with his aces

4.01pm: Wu walks
With the action folding to PokerStars Team Pro Asia member Raymond Wu in the cutoff, he moved his last 14,900 into the pot.

Wu found a call from an opponent on the button before Victorino Torres moved all in from the big blind for over 115,000 to prompt a fold from the button.

Wu: J♦ 9♣
Torres: J♥ J♣

It wasn’t looking good for Wu, and after the K♥ 4â™  2â™  6♣ 5♥ flop board was spread, the Taiwanese high stakes player made his way to the rail. — TD

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Raymond Wu bids farewell

3.50pm: Benton busto
On a board of Q♣ 6♣ 6♠ Aaron Benton pushed his last 22,100 into the pot and found a caller from his opponent in the small blind.

Benton: A♦ J♥
Opponent: 9♥ 9♠

The turn and river landed the 6♦ and 3â™  to see the PokerStars APPT Sydney Champion eliminated from the Main Event. — TD

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Aaron Benton moves all in….

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…. turns over his cards….

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… and leaves APPT Macau

3.35pm: New level
We’re in level 11, with blinds at 800-1,600 and a running ante of 200. We have around 85 players left on ten tables.

The money kicks in with 40 left, and today we play down to that moment, or a total of seven levels, whichever comes first.

Here’s a picture our snapper Joe Giron took a little earlier. Don’t know about you, but I can’t work out what it was that caught his eye…

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PokerStars Blog reporting team in Macau: Tim Duckworth and Simon Young (notepad and pen), and Joe Giron (camera)

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